Some museums these days charge an admission fee while others do not. Does the practice of asking an admission fee outweigh any disadvantages? Discuss, including exampled from your own knowledge and experience.

Although

many museums today remain open to the public for free, there are some that have already started changing nominal fees for

admission

. These establishments claim that doing so is important in order to fund the museum operations.

However

, I am of the opinion that there are more drawbacks than benefits with implementing

this

policy. Arguably, the advantage of having an

admission

fee

for the museum is that it provides a steady stream of income that can be used to improve the quality and variety of displays

to

Suggestion

for

the ultimate benefit of visitors. Small museums often struggle to stay open if they rely solely on government funding since it may be inadequate to meet even the most rudimentary cost of staffing, power, security and maintenance.

Hence

, with these conditions,

this

extra revenue may be the difference between those museums' survival and inevitable closure.

However

,

this

scheme may

also

be

deterimental

(sometimes followed by 'to') causing harm or injury

detrimental

to the museums. Many find

such

fees largely unacceptable. It is hard enough to get people of any age to go to museums as it is, without the added disincentive of a

fee

to add to their reasons to stay away. Museums seem to appeal to very few, and those that are government-run

are poorly maintained

Suggestion

is poorly maintained

and badly managed. Displays are largely static, uninspired and unchanged for years at a time. Charging a

fee

, in these circumstances, will only serve to dissuade people from paying these places a visit. As a consequence,

instead

of going to a museum, people just choose to spend their money on other cheaper and more worthwhile activities, considerably reducing

viewership

in museums and prompting governments or operators to completely shut them down in place of other more popular or profitable entertainment or recreational facilities. In

this

situation,

therefore

,

instead

of the

admission

fees helping the museums to thrive, they

instead

case these establishments to completely stop operating. In conclusion, the disadvantages of charging an

admission

fee

far outweigh its advantages. Having

such

policy will only discourage more citizens from visiting museums, ultimately defeating the purpose of imposing it in the

first

place.